[RP TownTalk] 15% higher property tax proposed to pay for Pr. George’s schools effort

[Sarah Wayland]

One reason Rushern Baker has to propose an increase in county taxes/funding
is that the budget proposed by Governor Hogan cut funding for PGCPS for the
2015-2016 school year by $38 million (this was part of a massive cut in
funding for education statewide in his proposed budget). Kevin Maxwell, CEO
and Superintendent of PGCPS, has indicated that this will translate to a
loss of 500-600 teachers (PGPCS has 205 schools).

You can read more about the impact of the cuts in the Governor's budget
here:
http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1125:school-system-facing-sting-of-budget-cuts&Itemid=766
 (I'll include the article at the end of this message.)

Below is a message, composed by Barbara Michelman of Cheverly, after
attending a rather bleak briefing by Kevin Maxwell regarding school
funding. PTA meetings at schools around the county have included
discussions of the impact the cuts will have on our classrooms and our
students.

Dear Friends:

On Tuesday, March 10, I attended a budget forum convened by PGCPS CEO Dr.
Kevin Maxwell -- to discuss the vital need for every single one of us who
cares about the quality of education inside PGCPS to advocate for full
funding of his proposed FY 2015-16 budget.


We are facing serious reductions in school funding, which will have a
negative effect on the quality of teaching and learning across our entire
school system. If you've already been advocating, THANK YOU--keep up the
good work! If you haven't, please take a few minutes to read this and take
action.


For years, PGCPS budget was funded at a "maintenance of effort level." This
proposed school budget (http://www1.pgcps.org/fy16budget/), which was
approved by the PGCPS board (Thank you, board members!) asks for WELL ABOVE
the maintenance of effort levels from years past. And it’s what’s
absolutely needed TO GET THE JOB DONE ACROSS OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND SPECIALTY
SCHOOL PROGRAMS.

Today, our County Executive releases his budget (
http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/sites/ExecutiveBranch/News/Pages/Executive-Presents-FY-2016-Budget.aspx).
It's anticipated to support a level of funding for education that goes well
above past maintenance of effort school funding (Thank you, Mr. Baker!).
BUT, in order to get this budget through the process, at least FIVE members
of the county council need to pass it.

What can you do?

You can reach out to your own member of the county council (ours in
Riverdale Park is Dannielle Glaros
http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/sites/district3/Pages/default.aspx) --
or contact ALL of them (
http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/sites/CountyCouncil/Districts/Pages/default.aspx)
and advocate that all the requested funds for education STAY in the
approved budget.

As you're likely aware, the majority of funding for public education comes
from our county and our state. That means we also MUST advocate for ZERO
funding cuts to education in the state budget, which is being debated over
the coming weeks in the state legislature.

What can you do?

You can contact your members (http://mdelect.net/)--in the state Senate and
House of Delegates and strongly urge them to fully fund education in the
next budget. (In Riverdale Park, our delegation is the 22nd District Team
(Senator: Paul Pinsky, Delegates Anne Healey, Tawanna Gaines & Alonzo
Washington)

Additional resources:

Don't Shortchange Maryland website (http://dontshortchangemaryland.com/)
Washington Post article on House action on state budget (
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-house-takes-steps-to-reverse-cuts-made-in-hogans-budget/2015/03/11/9bb77844-c819-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html
)

I cannot stress the importance of your local and state advocacy—and to keep
sending messages throughout this entire budget process.

Don’t let anyone convince you that we can do “more with less.” We can do
“less with less.”

Thank you in advance for advocating for our children. They deserve a few
minutes of our time in reaching out to local and state elected officials,
don’t you think?


-------------------
http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1125:school-system-facing-sting-of-budget-cuts&Itemid=766

School System Facing Sting of Budget Cuts

04 Feb 2015
Written by  Holden Wilen
Published in Local
increas

UPPER MARLBORO – County officials are reeling after taking a deeper look
into Governor Larry Hogan’s proposed state budget.

County Council Chairman Mel Franklin said the “mixed bag the county
received is a worse mix than we thought,” while Prince George’s County
Public Schools CEO Kevin Maxwell, said cuts could equate to more than 500
teachers’ jobs.

Two weeks ago Hogan announced his proposed budget, cutting the state aid
the county receives from the geographic cost of education index (GCEI) in
half, resulting in a reduction of $19.7 million, according to PGCPS Chief
Financial Officer Raymond Brown, the school system’s chief financial
officer. Brown also said the school system will lose out on $12.7 million
as a result of Hogan freezing the per-pupil funding for the state’s
Foundation program at the level for fiscal 2015. The school system will
also receive $4.1 million less than the estimated after Hogan chose to
delay the phase-in of the net taxable income (NTI) funding, keeping the
funding at 40 percent instead of increasing it to 60 percent. In total,
Brown said the school system will miss out on an extra $38 million.

“Had the governor’s proposal not made any recommendations to the Foundation
program and NTI, and had the governor fully funded GCEI, the increase in
state aid for Prince George’s County Public Schools for FY16 would have
been $66 million, rather than the $28 million in the governor’s budget, and
that’s the $38 million deduction,” Brown said.

Maxwell said he has not made any final decisions on where to make cuts
because the budget process has not ended. However, he said $40 million
equates to between 500 and 600 teachers.

“If I lose the people that are helping us make a difference then it is
harder to make that difference,” Maxwell said of the possibility of losing
teachers despite the school system’s recent announcement of record-setting
graduation rates.

Brown said $40 million in cuts would also result in the average class size
for elementary schools increasing from 25 students to 31 students. It could
also prevent the expansion of full-day pre-K or eliminate all art, music
and physical education programs in elementary schools. Other costs include
not funding the second year of the school system’s collective-bargaining
agreement with its unions, Brown said, or preventing the expansion of the
secondary school reform programs.

All of the options for cuts are individual, Maxwell said, but they could be
related. But he said he does not recommend making cuts right now because
the General Assembly could decide to restore the funding for NTI and the
Foundation program. In addition, Maxwell said the school system will ask
the county to make up for any funding it does not receive from the state.
However, Maxwell cautioned that the county faces its own financial problems.

“Their ability to make that up is certainly a big question mark,” Maxwell
said. “We would hope the county can help us but I can’t guarantee that nor
would I guarantee that the state is going to make up the difference.”

Franklin said the county council continues to have conversations with the
governor’s office, but the proposed budget cuts as they stand have dire
consequences on residents of Prince George’s County.

“First, they place an upward pressure on local jurisdictions to raise taxes
in order to continue to meet our resident’s higher expectations for higher
quality and improving schools,” Franklin said. “Second, they jeopardize
Maryland’s economic competitiveness in preparing for the new economy. And
third, they raise serious questions about whether this budget meets the
constitutional test of providing an adequate education for every child in
our state.”

Both Maxwell and Franklin said it will be important for the county to work
with neighboring jurisdictions, particularly Montgomery County, to restore
funding. Maxwell said he attended a meeting of superintendents from
Maryland’s five largest districts last week, and will attend a meeting
later this week with State Superintendent Lillian Lowery along with all of
the other superintendents in the state.

Franklin said he has reached out to other counties, including Anne Arundel,
Howard, Baltimore, Charles, Harford, Frederick and Baltimore City about
creating a coalition.

“We’ve had several conversations with the leadership in those jurisdictions
about coordinating strategy, and most of them are in the same boat we are
in when it comes to these cuts,” Franklin said. “So we’ll have to work in
tandem, in ways perhaps we haven’t in the past, to try to make sure we
continue to make Maryland stronger. We’re all about creating jobs. You
can’t do that if you’re cutting education. You’re going to hurt your work
force and you’re going to hurt the competitiveness of your economy. So
we’re all going to go to Annapolis and make that case working with our
respective delegations in tandem.”

Maxwell said he remains hopeful cuts will not have to be made at all.

“We have not made final decisions because we are hoping some of this can be
resolved in the legislative session in Annapolis. We are hoping to
remediate some of this, all of it maybe,” Maxwell said. “…My recommendation
is not to start cutting right now and wait until we actually know the
bottom line. In the meantime we will work diligently to weight all of the
options. Right now we are just trying to give people an idea of what these
cuts could mean to us, but I am not really ready to start cutting and
giving up the discussion. I would rather push it.”

Sentinel reporter Michael Sykes contributed to this report.
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